Perverse Disavowal and the Rhetoric of the End
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3986/fv.43.2.04Keywords:
disavowal, fetish, denial, crisis, endAbstract
The classic formula of disavowal given by Octave Mannoni, “I know well, but all the same,” undergoes interesting and far-reaching permutations in today’s social context. When it comes to dealing with and (not) responding to various crises, we usually point the finger at deniers and their “irrational” attitudes. However, far more common and socially problematic is the attitude that combines full recognition and denial in the same movement. Moreover, knowledge of a problem not only goes seamlessly with ignoring it but seems to make ignoring it possible in the first place. Saying that “we know well” often enables us to ignore the real of that knowledge. Disavowal thus takes a doubly perverse turn, which is the focus of the analysis in this article.
Downloads
References
Blanchot, Maurice, “The Apocalypse is Disappointing”, trans. E. Rottenberg, in Friendship, W. Hamacher and D. E. Wellbery (eds.), Stanford, Stanford University Press, 1997, pp. 101–108.
Brassier, Ray, Nihil Unbound, New York, Palgrave Macmillan, 2007.
Freud, Sigmund, “Thoughts for the Times of War and Death”, in The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, Volume XIV, J. Strachey and A. Freud (eds.), London, The Hogarth Press and the Institute of Psycho-analysis, 1957, pp. 274–301.
Hegel, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich, Phenomenology of Spirit, trans. A. V. Miller, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1977.
Klepec, Peter, “Covid 19, das Unheimliche in nočna mora”, Problemi, 57 (9–10/2020), pp. 111–139.
Lacan, Jacques, … or Worse. The Seminar of Jacques Lacan, Book XIX, trans. A. R. Price, Cambridge, Polity Press, 2018.
Mannoni, Octave, “‘I Know Well, but All the Same…’”, in M. A. Rothenberg et al. (eds.), Perversion and the Social Relation (SIC 4), Durham and London, Duke University Press, 2003.
Troha, Tadej, Intervencije v nepovratno, Ljubljana, Društvo za teoretsko psihoanalizo, 2015.
Zupančič, Alenka, “‘You’d have to be stupid not to see that’”, Parallax, 22 (4/2016), pp. 413–425.
Žižek, Slavoj, In Defense of Lost Causes, London and New York, Verso, 2008.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Authors guarantee that the work is their own original creation and does not infringe any statutory or common-law copyright or any proprietary right of any third party. In case of claims by third parties, authors commit their self to defend the interests of the publisher, and shall cover any potential costs.
More in: Submission chapter
